Matthew 20

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

1For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

Note"Householder" in 1611 English means the master of a household and its property, that is, an estate owner, not simply anyone who lives in a house. Matthew regularly writes "the kingdom of heaven" where Mark and Luke write "the kingdom of God"; saying "heaven" was a respectful way of referring to God without using the name.

2He agreed to pay them one silver coin, the usual pay for a day's work, and he sent them into his vineyard.

2And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

NoteThe KJV's "penny" is the Roman denarius, a silver coin that was the standard day's wage for a farm laborer or a common soldier. The translators substituted the English coin of their own day, which now makes the sum sound trivial; in the story it is a day's living for a family.

3About nine in the morning he went out again and saw other men standing in the marketplace with nothing to do.

3And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

NoteHours were counted from sunrise, roughly six in the morning, so the "third hour" is about nine. Daylight was divided into twelve hours in every season, so an hour was longer in summer and shorter in winter.

4He said to them, 'You go and work in my vineyard too, and I will pay you whatever is fair.' So they went.

4And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

5He went out again about noon, and again about three in the afternoon, and did the same thing both times.

5Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

NoteThe sixth hour is about noon and the ninth hour about three in the afternoon, counting from sunrise.

6About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day with nothing to do?'

6And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

NoteThe eleventh hour is about five in the afternoon, leaving roughly one hour of work before sunset ended the working day. The English phrase "at the eleventh hour," meaning at the last possible moment, comes from this verse.

7They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go and work in my vineyard too, and you will get whatever is fair.'

7They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to the man who managed his workers, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last ones hired and end with the first.'

8So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

NoteA "steward" was the estate manager who kept the owner's accounts and paid the workforce. The law required that a hired laborer be paid before nightfall on the day he worked, because he lived on that day's wage (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:15), so paying at evening is ordinary practice rather than generosity.

9The men who had been hired about five in the afternoon came, and each one received a full day's pay.

9And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

10So when the men hired first came up, they expected to get more. But each of them also received a full day's pay.

10But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

11When they had taken the money, they complained about the man who owned the house and the land.

11And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

Note"Murmured" in the KJV means grumbled or complained aloud. "Goodman of the house" was ordinary 1611 English for the master of a household: the same man called "an householder" in verse 1.

12They said, "These men hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us. We carried the load all day in the burning heat."

12Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

Note"Wrought" is the old past tense of "work." The word behind "heat" is the scorching heat of midday, also used of the burning east wind off the desert that withers crops.

13But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not cheating you. Didn't you agree to work for one day's pay?

13But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

NoteThe word translated "Friend" is a distant, formal way of addressing a man whose name you are not using, closer to "fellow" than to the warm word for a friend. Matthew uses it twice more, both times to someone in the wrong (22:12 and 26:50).

14Take what is yours and go. I choose to give this man hired last the same as I gave you.

14Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

15Am I not allowed to do what I want with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?"

15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

Note"Is thine eye evil" is a fixed Hebrew and Greek idiom. An "evil eye" means a grudging, stingy, envious outlook, and a "good eye" means an open-handed one. It is not about casting a curse with a look.

16So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last. Many are invited, but few are chosen."

16So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

NoteThe closing clause "for many be called, but few chosen" is absent from the earliest manuscripts of Matthew at this point. It stands securely in Matthew 22:14, and copyists appear to have carried it over here. Translations that follow the older manuscripts end the verse with the reversal of first and last.

17As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside while they walked, and said to them,

17And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,

Note"Going up" is the standard idiom for travel to Jerusalem, which sits high in the hill country. One went up to Jerusalem from any direction and down from it, whatever the compass bearing.

18"Listen. We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and they will sentence him to death.

18Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,

Note"Son of man" is the phrase Jesus uses of himself throughout the gospels. In ordinary Hebrew and Aramaic it means simply "a human being," but it also recalls the figure "like the Son of man" given lasting rule in Daniel 7, and the phrase can carry both senses at once. The "chief priests" were the senior temple officials in Jerusalem; the "scribes" were the trained experts in the law of Moses who copied, taught and interpreted it.

19They will hand him over to people who are not Jews, to be laughed at, whipped, and nailed to a cross. And on the third day he will rise to life again."

19And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Note"Gentiles" means everyone who is not Jewish; here it means the Roman authorities, who alone had power to carry out a death sentence. To "scourge" is to flog with a whip, in Roman practice often weighted with bone or metal, and normally administered before crucifixion. Crucifixion was a Roman public execution used mainly on slaves and rebels. "The third day" is counted inclusively, so a Friday death and a Sunday rising counts as three days.

20Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons. She knelt down and asked him for something.

20Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

NoteZebedee was a Galilean fisherman, the father of the disciples James and John (Matthew 4:21). "Worshipping him" in 1611 English means the bodily act of kneeling or bowing low before a superior; the same verb covers the respect shown to a king. The English word has narrowed since then to mean religious worship only.

21He said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one at your right side and the other at your left."

21And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.

NoteThe places at a ruler's right and left hand were the two highest positions of honor at his court, held by his chief officers. The request is for the top two ranks in the kingdom she expects him to establish.

22Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" They said to him, "We can."

22But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

NoteIn the Hebrew scriptures a "cup" is regularly the portion or fate handed to a person, most often a cup of suffering or of judgment (for example Psalm 75:8 and Isaiah 51:17). "Baptized" translates a Greek word whose plain sense is to dip, plunge or submerge, so to be baptized with a baptism here means to be plunged into an ordeal and overwhelmed by it. The clause about baptism in this verse, and its repetition in the next, is missing from the earliest manuscripts of Matthew and appears to have been copied in from the parallel passage in Mark 10:38-39.

23He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and you will go through what I must go through. But the seats at my right and my left are not mine to hand out. They belong to those my Father has prepared them for."

23And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

24When the other ten disciples heard about this, they were angry with the two brothers.

24And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

25But Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the other nations lord it over their people, and their important men throw their weight around.

25But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

Note"Exercise dominion" renders a verb meaning to lord it over someone, to hold people down by rank. "The princes of the Gentiles" are the rulers of the nations outside Israel, whose kings were the obvious working example of that kind of power.

26It must not be that way among you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be the one who serves you,

26But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

Note"Minister" in 1611 English means a servant or attendant, someone who waits on others at table or otherwise; it did not yet mean a member of the clergy. The Greek word is the one that later gave the church the office of deacon.

27and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.

27And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Note"Servant" here translates a stronger word than the one in verse 26. It means a slave: a person owned by another, with no standing of his own.

28It is the same with the Son of Man. He did not come to be served. He came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom to set many people free."

28Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

NoteA "ransom" was the price paid to buy a prisoner of war or a slave out of captivity, or the sum paid to spare a life that was otherwise forfeit. The word comes from everyday commerce and law rather than from religious vocabulary.

29As they were leaving the town of Jericho, a large crowd followed him.

29And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

NoteJericho lay in the Jordan valley about fifteen miles northeast of Jerusalem, and the road from it to the city climbed more than three thousand feet. It was the last stage of the pilgrim route and was crowded at Passover.

30Two blind men were sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

30And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

Note"Son of David" is a title for the promised king descended from David. Shouting it at Jesus in a public street is a claim about who he is, not a general courtesy.

31The crowd told them sharply to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

31And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

32Jesus stopped, called them over, and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

32And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?

33They said to him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened."

33They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

34Jesus felt deep pity for them and touched their eyes. Right away they could see, and they followed him.

34So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.

Note"Had compassion" renders a Greek verb built on the word for the inward organs, which were thought of as the seat of deep feeling. It describes being moved in the gut, a strong physical word rather than a mild one.